The Garden of Last Days

The Garden of Last Days is a novel published in 2008 by Andre Dubus III. Set in Florida in the days leading up to the September 11 attacks, it weaves together the narratives of multiple characters. This work followed his earlier novel House of Sand and Fog.

Summary

On a night in early September in Florida, April, who works as a stripper at the "Puma Club for Men," brings her daughter along to her workplace due to her babysitter being hospitalized. During this evening, she meets Bassam, a foreign client who maintains a reserved yet intimate demeanor and is notably generous financially. At the same time, AJ, another patron, is removed from the club after holding hands with his preferred stripper; he is intoxicated, upset, and isolated.

Reviews

John Dufresne writing for the Boston Sunday Globe commended the novel as "storytelling of the finest kind: unforgettable and desperate characters caught up in a plot thundering toward catastrophe." Meanwhile, Jocelyn McClurg from USA Today described it as "One of the most maddening, exhilarating…novels of the year."

Film adaptation

In 2013, Millennium Entertainment committed to funding a film version, with producers including Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Danielle Robinson, and Hanna Weg. The screenplay was penned by Weg, while Vince Jolivette and Miles Levy also took on producing roles. However, by June 2013, director and lead actor James Franco exited the project following disagreements with Millennium regarding the production team.